Articles by Uri Avnery
We found 223 results.
A MATTER OF TIMING: WIPING THE SPIT OFF HIS FACE
Uri Avnery,
15 Mar 2010
SOME WEEKS the news is dominated by a single word. This week’s word was “timing”. It’s all a matter of timing. The Government of Israel has insulted the Vice President of the United States, Joe Biden, one of the greatest “friends” of Israel (meaning: somebody totally subservient to AIPAC) and spat in the face of […]
→ read full articleTHE QUIET AMERICAN
Uri Avnery – Znet,
12 Jan 2010
The quiet American was the hero of Graham Greene’s novel about the first Vietnam War, the one fought by the French.He was a young and naïve American, a professor’s son, who had enjoyed a good education at Harvard, an idealist with all the best intentions. When he was sent to Vietnam, he wanted to help […]
→ read full articleTHE IRON WALL
Uri Avnery,
3 Jan 2010
Something odd, almost bizarre, is going on in Egypt these days. About 1400 activists from all over the world gathered there on their way to the Gaza Strip. On the anniversary of the “Cast Lead” War, they intended to participate in a non-violent demonstration against the ongoing blockade, which makes the life of 1.5 million […]
→ read full articleSPOT THE DIFFERENCE
Uri Avnery,
13 Dec 2009
A short historical quiz: Which state: 1. Arose after a holocaust in which a third of its people were destroyed? 2. Drew from that holocaust the conclusion that only superior military forces could ensure its survival? 3. Accorded the army a central role in its life, making it “an army that had […]
→ read full articleFEDERATION? WHY NOT?
Uri Avnery - ZNet,
25 Nov 2009
These days mark the 5th anniversary of the murder of Yasser Arafat, and bring back to me our last conversation in his Ramallah compound, a few weeks before his death. It was he who brought up the idea of a threefold federation – Israel, Palestine and Jordan. "And perhaps Lebanon, too. Why not?" – the […]
→ read full articleA LINE IN THE SAND
Uri Avnery,
10 Nov 2009
Mahmoud Abbas is fed up. The day before yesterday he withdrew his candidacy for the coming presidential election in the Palestinian Authority. I understand him. He feels betrayed. And the traitor is Barack Obama. A year ago, when Obama was elected, he aroused high hopes in the Muslim world, among the Palestinian people as well […]
→ read full articleCOUNT ME OUT
Uri Avnery – Dissident Voice,
6 Nov 2009
A year before the Oslo agreement, I had a meeting with Yasser Arafat in Tunis. He was full of curiosity about Yitzhak Rabin, who had just been elected Prime Minister. I described him as well as I could and ended with the words: “He is as honest as a politician can be.” Arafat broke into […]
→ read full articleTHE DRAMA AND THE FARCE: THE WALDORF-ASTORIA SUMMIT
Uri Avnery,
24 Sep 2009
NO POINT denying it: in the first round of the match between Barack Obama and Binyamin Netanyahu, Obama was beaten.Obama had demanded a freeze of all settlement activity, including East Jerusalem, as a condition for convening a tripartite summit meeting, in the wake of which accelerated peace negotiations were to start, leading to peace between […]
→ read full articleA JEREMIAD
Uri Avnery,
5 Aug 2009
Dear Dov Yermiya, I have received the distressing letter that you recently sent to a limited number of friends. You paint the Israeli reality in dark – but true – colors, and end by cutting your ties with it. “Therefore I, a 95 year old Sabra (native born Israeli Jew), who has plowed its fields, […]
→ read full articleBETWEEN TEL AVIV AND TEHRAN
Uri Avnery,
30 Jun 2009
Hundreds of thousands of Iranian citizens pour into the streets in order to protest against their government! What a wonderful sight! Gideon Levy wrote in Ha’aretz that he envies the Iranians. And indeed, anyone who tries these days to get Israelis in any numbers into the streets could die of envy. It is very difficult […]
→ read full article‘AT WAR WITH THE PALESTINIAN PEOPLE’
Uri Avnery,
23 Mar 2009
The most important sentence written in Israel this week was lost in the general tumult of exciting events. Really exciting: In a final act of villainy, typical of his whole tenure as prime minister, Ehud Olmert abandoned the captive soldier, Gilad Shalit. Ehud Barak decided that the Labor Party must join the ultra-right government, which […]
→ read full articleTHE RAPE OF WASHINGTON
Uri Avnery,
16 Mar 2009
Returning home from a very short visit to London, I found the country in the grip of uncontrollable emotions. No, it was not about the looming danger of the radical Right gaining control. It is now almost certain that the next government will consist of an assorted bunch of settlers, explicit racists, and perhaps even […]
→ read full articleREBUILDING GAZA TO RAZE IT AGAIN
Uri Avnery,
10 Mar 2009
This week I had a nostalgic experience. I met a parliamentary delegation from one of the European countries. What turned this meeting into a special occasion for me was its location. The "Pasha Room" of the "American Colony" Hotel in East Jerusalem is a beautiful square hall, decorated in traditional Arab style. I was in […]
→ read full articleTHE BLACK FLAG IS WAVING
Uri Avnery,
2 Feb 2009
A Spanish judge has instituted a judicial inquiry against seven Israeli political and military personalities on suspicion of war crimes and crimes against humanity. The case: the 2002 dropping of a one-ton bomb on the home of Hamas leader Salah Shehade. Apart from the intended victim, 14 people, most of them children, were killed. For […]
→ read full articleON THE WRONG SIDE
Uri Avnery,
28 Jan 2009
OF ALL the beautiful phrases in Barack Obama’s inauguration speech, these are the words that stuck in my mind: “You are on the wrong side of history.” He was talking about the tyrannical regimes of the world. But we, too, should ponder these words In the last few days I have heard a lot of […]
→ read full articleISRAEL’S WAR OF DECEIT, LIES AND PROPAGANDA
Uri Avnery,
13 Jan 2009
Nearly 70 years ago, in the course of the Second World War, a heinous crime was committed in the city of Leningrad. For more than a thousand days, a gang of extremists called "the Red Army" held the millions of the town’s inhabitants hostage and provoked retaliation from the German Wehrmacht from inside the population […]
→ read full articleMOLTEN LEAD: ISRAEL’S NEW ELECTION WAR
Uri Avnery, RamallahOnline.com,
4 Jan 2009
Just after midnight, Aljazeera’s Arabic channel was reporting on events in Gaza. Suddenly the camera was pointing upwards towards the dark sky. The screen was pitch black. Nothing could be seen, but there was a sound to be heard: the noise of airplanes, a frightening, a terrifying droning. It was impossible not to think about […]
→ read full articleMEMO FOR OBAMA
Uri Avnery, Israel,
8 Dec 2008
December 07, 2008 For: the President-Elect, Mr. Barack Obama The following humble suggestions are based on my 70 years of experience as an underground fighter, special forces soldier in the 1948 war, editor-in-chief of a newsmagazine, member of the Knesset and founding member of a peace movement: 1. As far as Israeli-Arab peace is concerned, […]
→ read full articleEYES WIDE SHUT
Uri Avnery,
25 Nov 2008
The day before yesterday, two documents appeared side by side in Ha’aretz: a giant advertisement from the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) and the results of a public opinion poll. The proximity was accidental, but to the point. The PLO ad sets out the details of the 2002 Saudi peace offer, decorated with the colorful flags […]
→ read full articleTURNING THE PAGE
Uri Avnery,
4 Nov 2008
In a world where a person like Barack Hussein Obama can appear from nowhere and advance within a few years to the highest levels of world politics, nothing is predictable, and therefore everything is possible. Today, it seems at the moment, the incredible will happen: the most important "white" country in the world will elect […]
→ read full articleKING OF THE PLANET
Uri Avnery,
29 Oct 2008
THE PRESIDENT of the United States is the king of this planet. I live on this planet. Therefore, the election of the President concerns me, too. Very much so. The President is not the sole ruler of the world. There are other rulers too, albeit less powerful ones. His decisions are subject to many constraints […]
→ read full articleA FAIRY TALE
Uri Avnery,
29 Oct 2008
Recently I was asked by the German Else-Laker-Schueler-Gesellschaft, which commemorates the German-Jewish-Israeli poetess, to describe how peace would look like. On the eve of Yom Kippur, the day of reconciliation, I would like to distribute it instead of my weekly article. A Fairy Tale "If […]
→ read full articleIT CAN HAPPEN HERE!
Uri Avnery,
6 Oct 2008
The German name Sternhell means "bright as the stars." The name fits: the positions of Professor Ze’ev Sternhell indeed stand out sharply against the darkness of the sky. He warns against Israeli fascism. This week, Israeli fascists laid a pipe bomb at the entrance of his apartment, and he was lightly injured. The choice of […]
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